Order of Degree Word and Adjective
Word order · one world map for each value
WALS codes 481 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj)”, covers 227 of them (47%); the least frequent, “Both orders occur with neither order dominant”, covers 62.
That value is most frequent in North America (70% of the 71 languages coded there) and least frequent in Papunesia (20% of 125).
All 11 Altaic languages coded have “Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj)”.
Pama-Nyungan is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 4 of 10.
Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj)227 languages · 47%
Degree word follows adjective (AdjDeg)192 languages · 40%
Both orders occur with neither order dominant62 languages · 13%
One map per value; each dot is a language WALS codes with that value.
By macro-area
| Value | Africa | Eurasia | Papunesia | Australia | North America | South America |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj) | 12 | 115 | 25 | 5 | 50 | 20 |
| Degree word follows adjective (AdjDeg) | 39 | 33 | 78 | 10 | 14 | 18 |
| Both orders occur with neither order dominant | 7 | 19 | 22 | 3 | 7 | 4 |
| All values | 58 | 167 | 125 | 18 | 71 | 42 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austronesian | 78 | Degree word follows adjective (AdjDeg) | 56% |
| Sino-Tibetan | 62 | Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj) | 65% |
| Indo-European | 42 | Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj) | 93% |
| Niger-Congo | 23 | Degree word follows adjective (AdjDeg) | 78% |
| Trans-New Guinea | 23 | Degree word follows adjective (AdjDeg) | 74% |
| Afro-Asiatic | 19 | Degree word follows adjective (AdjDeg) | 53% |
| Oto-Manguean | 13 | Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj) | 46% |
| Austro-Asiatic | 12 | Degree word follows adjective (AdjDeg) | 67% |
| Uto-Aztecan | 12 | Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj) | 92% |
| Altaic | 11 | Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj) | 100% |
| Pama-Nyungan | 10 | Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj) | 40% |
| Eastern Sudanic | 9 | Degree word follows adjective (AdjDeg) | 56% |
Languages to explore
The most fully coded languages with each value.
- Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj): English, French, Russian, Finnish, Spanish, Turkish
- Degree word follows adjective (AdjDeg): Amele, Hausa, Maori, Arabic (Egyptian), Hixkaryana, Maybrat
- Both orders occur with neither order dominant: Fijian, Hebrew (Modern), Krongo, Wari', Mixtec (Chalcatongo), Imonda